Combined easel and plate-holder.



PATENTED JUN-E 11, 1907.

S. MoMIGHAEL. COMBINED EASEL AND PLATE HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29, 1908.

ll/IIIII IVIIIIIIIIIIIIflIII/flX (III/IIIIll/I/IIIIIIIA l7/IIflI/IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII INVENTOH DZwzaeZ JfQJIZb/AQGZ WITNESSES A TTOHNE Y 8 TH: uoRRls PETERS co., wnsnmarou, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL MOMICHAEL, OF NEWARK, NEl/V JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO COLLINS G. DIBOLL, OF NEWV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1907.

Application filed June 29, 1906- Serial No. 324.037.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL MoMicniinL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of'New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Combined Easel and Plate-Holder, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a device made mainly of wire, which can be economically constructed and which can also be quickly, conveniently and economically secured or removably applied to any object ca able of being supported by an easel, or w iich is to be suspended from a support, and furthermore to so construct the device that it may be readily adapted to either of such uses without dismemberment.

A further purpose of the invention is to so construct the device that it will be very simple, light and durable and readily understood, and whereby the legs when the device is to be used are easily made long or short as demanded by the character of the support, and also so that the legs may be given any desired outward inclination.

Another purpose of the invention is to rovide an article of the character described that can be as readily applied to dished or irregularly shaped objects as to flat or plain ones.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the device applied to a flat object and in use as an easel; Fig. 2 is an edge view of the object and the device applied as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section through the device, the section being taken practically on'the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the late and an edge view of the device applied thereto and adjusted to constitute a hanger for the plate; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through the backboard of a picture or like object, illustrating the applicatlon of a simpler form of the device thereto.

A represents the back plate or main plate member of the device, which is made of metal as light as possible consistent with strength, and the said plate at its side edges is bent rearward upon itself, forming clamping members 10 at the rear, parallel with the front ortion of the plate as is shown in Fig. 8. T 's formation of the plate provides for longitudinal edge loops 11, which are practically longitudinal eyes. The back plate A is used in connection with a stay wire B. This wire is of suitable gage and is of a pliable nature and bent upon itself to form parallel straight sections 12, which straight sections 12 are received in the loo s or eyes 11 of the back plate A, and are he d in position by a locking strip 15*, which may be of pasteboard or of any suitable material, and is passed between the clamping members and the front of the back plate A the full length of the plate, engaging at its side edges with the aforesaid members 12 of the said stav wire B. At the bottom portion of the back plate A, the members of the stay wire are bent outward and downward in opposite directions, producing diverging supporting arms 13, which arms at their low er ends are provided with upwardly and forwardly-extending hooks 13, and said hooks 13 receive the lower edge of a panel 14, plate, or other large and conmaratively heavy article to be supported by the device. The loop portion 15 of the said stay wire B is above the back plate A, as is shown best in Figs. 1 and 4;. The loop 15 receives the lower end portion of a pliable metal strip 16, and the lower extremities of this strip are bent upward upon the back of the body portion as is shown in F igs. 1, and 4, forming thereby an adjusting lip 17, which enables the pliable strip 16 to be lengthened or shortened to ac commodate the device to long or to short articles. The upper end of the pliable strip 16 is either adjustably or securely fastened to an extension 18 from the shank of a hook 19, and this hook 19 in the application of the device passes over and engages with the upper edge of the article to be held, as is also shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. At or about the central portion of the back plate A, longitudinal slots 20 are made at its side edge portion, and a clamping strip 22, also made of a light bendable material, is passed to a position between the locking strip 15 and the front of the back plate A, as is shown in Fig. the head of a nail and 3, and the projecting ends of the clamping strip 22 are bent over transversely upon the outer or rear face of the back plate A, forming guide ears 22, whichears do not engage with the back plate at the said slots 20, in order to form eyes 23. In connection With this clamping strip 22 a supporting wire C is employed, which is of suitable gage and is pliable; and this supporting wire is bent upon itself to form parallel straight body members 24, corresponding to the members 12 of the stay wire B, and these body members 24 of the supporting wire C are slidably passed through the eyes 23 formed by the guide ears 22, of the clampin strip 22. The loop 25 of the supporting wire 0 constitutes the upper portion thereof, and is provided with a contracted vertically elongated. section 25*, best shown in Fig. 1, in order that the said portion 25 may readily receive and properly engage with a nail or equivalent support. The straight or body members 24 of the supporting wire C are of greater length than the length of the back plate A; and at the lower ends of the said body members 24 the wire is bent outward to form opposing shoulders 26, which shoulders limit the upward movement of the supporting wire of the back plate A, as is also best shown in Fig. 1. The members of the supporting wire 0 are carried down from the shoulders 26 to form legs 27, and in producing these legs the wires are crossed and are twisted upon themselves between their ends, as is shown at 28 in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, in order to impart strength to said legs; and at the terminal of each leg a loop or eye 29 is preferably formed, so that the legs will not mar a smooth surface upon which they may rest. This form of the device is adapted especially for application to heavy panels 14, or the like, or to plaques or plates 30, since the device is as readily applied to a round. or oval object as to a square or diagonal object, by reason of the supporting arms 13 being bendable to accommodate them to the rear bottom portion of the article to which the device is applied, and also by reason of the pliability of the adjusting strip 16, as is clearly shown in Fig. 4.

If the article is to have an easel support, the supporting wire or easel member thereof is drawn down a suflicient distance, or until the ends of the legs have a proper bearing on the support, and then the legs 27 are bent outward by hand until they have the requisite rearward inclination. If the article is to be hung upon the wall, for example, the legs 27 are straightened to lie practically flat against the back of the article as is shown in Fig. 4, and the said easel member or supporting wire C is drawn up as far as may be required and its upper loop portion is bent rearward by hand until the contracted part- 25 of the loop 25 can be readily passed over have proper bearing on the body thereof.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated the adaptability of the device in simple and exceedingly light form to the backboard 14 of a picture or a framed article, or to a backboard upon which an engraving, print or the like is to be pasted for exhibition. In this latter event the backboard 14 is provided with slots 21, one being at each side of its center and at a desired point between the top and the bottom of the board, and the clamping strip 22 and the easel or supporting wire C only are employed, the ends of the strip being passed from the front of the board out to the rear of the same, and are then bent upon themselves to form the guide members 22 and the eyes 23 above described, in which eyes the straight members 24 of the said easel or supporting wire C are adapted to slide. When the easel section only is used, the device to which it is applied can be supported by the legs 27, or can be hung up by means of the loop 25.

It may be here remarked that the easel supporting wire C may be properly termed a combined supporting and suspension member, since the legs serve as supports and the loop as means to sustain the object with which the member is connected.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In easels and like devices, a plate member, guides overlying the same and a combined supporting and suspension member constructed of pliable wire and comprising a body section and a lower leg section, the sides of the body section being adapted for sliding movement between said guides and the plate member, and means for limiting the movement of said suspension and supporting member. 1

2. In easels and like devices, a plate member having opposing guide ears formed thereon, and a combined supporting and sus ension member, constructed of one piece 0 pliable wire bent upon itself to form an upper loop section having straight parallel sides and mounted to slide in the said guide ears, a lower foot section and stops at the upper portion of the foot section.

3. In easels and like devices, a plate member of pliable material having its ends bent inwardly upon its body, forming eyes at the ends of said member, and a combined supporting and suspension member constructed of one piece of pliable wire bent upon itself to form an upper loop section having a central upper contracted extension, and parallel straight sides, which are mounted to slide in the said eyes, a crossed foot section, and stops at the junction of the foot section with the loop section.

4. In easels, a back plate having longitudinal eyes at its side edges and opposing guide IIO ears at its back face, a stay wire bent to form an upper loop, the members of the wire adjacent to the loop being held in the eyes of the back plate, and lower diverging supporting arms having hook terminals, an upper hook,

a pliable strap adjustably connecting the said hook with the said loop, and a combined supporting and suspension member, consisting of a pliable wire bent upon itself to form an upper loop section slidably mounted in the said ears, a lower leg section and intermediate stops.

5. In easels, the combination with a back plate, a stay wire secured thereto and extending above the same in the form of a loop and below the plate in the form of diverging supporting arms, an upper hook, and a pliable adjustable connection between the loop and the hook, of guides produced upon the back plate, and an easel member constructed of pliable wire, comprising an upper loop section slidably mounted in the guides, a lower leg section and intermediate stops.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses:

SAMUEL MOMIOHAEL. l/Vitnesses:

J. FRED. AoKER, JNo. M. RITTER. 

